Sex. Booze. Bad Catholics. Jan is a young successful writer. Far from home and isolated, she is overcome with memories while trying to work through some serious writer’s block. The torrents of scenes from her childhood revolve around her Scottish aunt Elaine, known as Sissy, a larger-than-life character with a profound appetite for men, dancing, and exotic drinks. An innately rebellious, outspoken woman, Sissy’s passions inspire Jan’s pursuit of her own adventures, while Sissy herself remains curiously stuck in the family’s adopted Canadian hometown. Jan probes her vivid impressions of the men in Sissy’s life for clues to her aunt’s undoing:

Joe, Sissy’s favourite bartender, from the mysterious land of Québec; Gus, Jan’s father, and something perhaps more than a brother-in-law; and especially Dermot, Sissy’s dangerously child-like husband and Jan’s rival. Further confusing matters is Sissy’s idiosyncratic — some would say blasphemous — take on Catholicism, which the unusual Father Mike does little to reform. Jan ultimately realizes that some things aren’t for children. Having revisited the memories of her aunt, who remains trapped like a firefly caught in a bottle, Jan ultimately makes her peace with Sissy through an act of the imagination.